Flaming Lips House
http://www.fitzsimmons-arch.com
Danish Pavilion at EXPO 2010
http://www.dailyicon.net
Cool Parking Structure
http://www.dezeen.com
America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places
http://www.preservationnation.org
Add comment June 26th, 2010
When weather allows, I’ve been wandering Northwest Portland and observing the diverse built environment. While Northwest is largely affluent, there are still pockets of light industry, so the mix of architectural styles is fascinating. While my tastes in residential architecture skew to the more modernist end of the spectrum, I’ve also come to appreciate fine examples of older style homes that can’t be found elsewhere in the city. Northwest is also an enjoyable place to stroll around because of all the hidden urban treasures, like obscure public stairs sandwiched between hillside houses. This area is also probably one of the oldest sections of Portland. Many streets are named after early settlers (Lovejoy, Quimby, Flanders, et al) and a few rehabbed structures still remain from the turn-of-the-century era illustrating creative adaptive reuse.
Trolley Lofts
I would have never guessed this structure use to serve as a trolley barn if I hadn’t found a weathered placard on the other side of the block. Signs of old trolley tracks are all over this area – probably due to the usual chronically deferred street repair. I don’t know if this happened in other cities, but it looks like Portland wiped out its old trolley lineds by simply paving over the tracks. But back to the trolley lofts. A couple of these units are for sale, like a lot of condo buildings here in town, so I’ve had a chance to read the sales flyers. I even had a chance to tour one, but I declined due to lack of time. It would have also seemed weird touring a 700K loft I would never be able to afford. But the lofts seem really nice from the sales pictures I’ve seen. And the square footage is around 2,000+ which is quite generous for this area.
West Hills
This is where Portland’s old money lives and the stale architectural reflect this. Not much in the way a mid-century modern, but there are a few ’70s homes that have been renovated nicely. I know there is a Skylab designed residence in the area (from the movie Twlight?), but I just haven’t run into it yet. The West Hills are a wonderful place to take a relaxing walk (or difficult run) since it’s such a peaceful area, but I often feel uncomfortable walking amongst all the million dollar homes. I mean, you never see anyone out working in the yard or playing with children, even though every driveway has at least two cars in it.
Portland Fire Station #17
At first I thought this little firehouse was still in use, but then I went to the Portland Fire Bureau website and it wasn’t listed as an active station. I suppose it’s too small to actually accommodate emergency vehicles, but I guess I thought that maybe it’s still used for administrative purpose. Not quite sure what the building houses today.
Thurman Street Lofts
Look, I like this recent trend toward using wood cladding. The Randy Rapaport/Holst Architecture condo on Belmont is a great example of this. But this (Holst?) building just got it all wrong. There should be a balance here, some kind of contrast to the color and texture provide by the vertical slats. This building makes about as much sense as Segway polo. And if the overuse of wood slats wasn’t bad enough, it’s compounded by the fact it’s not even being well maintained. Would it kill the HOA to power wash the exterior once a year and either water seal or stain it? UPDATE: I’ve found some images of the original Holst design and it has different types of siding and it looks far better than the finished product. What happened?
Add comment June 23rd, 2009
A couple of weekends ago, Stacy and I embarked on a self directed tour of Rummer homes in Beaverton after reading a recent issue of Dwell. Rummer homes were built by Robert Rummer, a developer who was inspired by the designs of Joe Eichler. Eichler homes were favored by Californian elite, like Quincy Jones, but Rummer built most of his mid-century modern dwellings in Portland, Beaverton, Newberg, Salem, and Florence.
Stacy had everything all mapped, so we set out on something akin to an architectural Easter egg hunt. We were especially excited about the prospect of finding the mythical Vista Brook neighborhood with 60 Rummer homes concentrated within a four block area, so we left that one for last. The title of this blog post comes from a “for sale” listing sheet we swiped outside of one of the Rummer homes we first found. The picture of the listing agent gave the impression she only learned the significance of Rummer homes about a week ago (Rummers can command a $30,000 premium over similar homes).
We still have one more neighborhood left to explore out in Beaverton, but I think we’ll be better trained to spot Rummer homes by then. It’s regrettable that many Rummer homes have been severely damaged by misguided renovations. But we can at least take solace in the fact many of these Rummer have not been radically altered by previous owners simple because they never had the money to make major alterations.
There are a few more local Rummers out there left to discover, but they’ll have to wait for another nice weekend this Spring.
5 comments April 10th, 2009
As some of you may or may not know, I have a new job with WebMD in Northwest Portland. One of the benefits of this new position is the upgrade to a far better office environment on the seventh floor of Montgomery Park, a building renovated by Bill Naito back in the ’80s. The structure is an old Montgomery Ward warehouse offering large, open floor plans and over 800,000 square feet of largely occupied office space. I believe the building is also the inspiration for one of The Simpson’s character names: C. Montgomery Burns. Finding historical information online about the building has been difficult, however, there is signage in front of the main entrance detailing some of the structure’s back story. Apparently, the building was constructed by Montgomery Ward and opened on January 1, 1921 as a shipping center to serve the growing west coast mail order market. The picture that accompanies the signage text shows train tracks entering the westside of the building. According the Oregon Historical Quarterly, two sets of railroad tracks allowed freight cars to be loaded and unloaded inside the building — a unique and useful feature in rainy Oregon. Montgomery Ward operated the building as a warehouse until 1976 and when Naito purchased the building in 1984, he changed the sign on the roof to read “Montgomery Park” instead of “Montgomery Ward”.
The architecture firm SERA did the redesign, and while some of it has a definite ’80s feels like the Portland Building, it also offers a level of craftsmanship not seen in other projects from that era. One of the designs elements that bothers me on a daily basis are the doors on all the elevators. They have this v shaped brass pattern that is probably suppose to look classy, but it just looks tacky. A more simple, even industrial, design would have better complemented the building.
2 comments March 29th, 2009
(Photo by Brian Libby)
This last weekend Stacy and I went down to check out the Oregon Garden and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gordon House. This Usonian style dwelling was designed by Wright in 1957 for Evelyn and Conrad Gordon of Clackamas County and finished in 1963. Evelyn Gordon spent her twilight years in the house and then her children tried unsuccessful to sell it after she passed away. In 2001, the house and property were finally sold, but the new owners, oblivious to the significance of the structure, prepared to raze it in order to make way for a skanky McMansion. Lucky, the new owners displayed a modicum of decency (despite their utter lack of taste) and granted the house a three month stay of execution — just enough time for the structure to be dismantled and moved by truck to the Oregon Garden about 21 miles south of the original location.
I have to confess, the Gordon House is a little underwhelming compared to the other Wright house I’ve toured: Fallingwater in Southwestern Pennsylvania. My lack of initial awe is probably due to the fact the house is now in a totally different environment. Like all good architects, Wright designed his homes with their natural surrounding in mind. And while Wright never actually visited the property where the house was originally located, he had seen numerous pictures and had met with the Gordons on a couple of different occasions. Another strike against the Gordon house is the sparse interior. Unlike Fallingwater, there is no original furniture, so you don’t get a sense of what it must have been like to live in the residence. But on the plus side, the restoration is pretty remarkable and one can still marvel at Wright’s quirky flourishes, like the fret board windows or the 15 degree angles everywhere. Like all Wright houses, the roof leaks, so no
surprises there. I would definitely recommended it as a day trip destination for Portlanders – tours are only about $5.00.
(Original interior before move to Oregon Garden)
Just a couple of comments on the Oregon Garden seem in order as well. We didn’t have great weather, but I still enjoyed walking around and riding the cute little tram. Of course I got us lost a couple of times, but it’s a fun place to get lost in. Since the OG hasn’t been around for very long, it feels somewhat sparse and undeveloped. At times it felt like we were in a scene from Jurassic Park, wandering around a soon to be open theme park. We stayed at the newly built Moonstone Resort at the OG which was quite nice and inexpensive. I think our fairly large room was around $90.00 and included a pretty good breakfast at the lodge. That rate also included admission to the Garden, but not the Gordon House. Bookings should probably be done online to get that deal.
B-Love’s Architecture Week Article
http://www.architectureweek.com
2 comments November 5th, 2008
I’ve been thinking about Randy Gragg’s last article for the Oregonian recently – you know, the piece critical of Portland’s lack of vision for regional transportation solutions. Frustratingly, it seems like there are just two vocal camps when it comes to a discussion of gridlock. The first group is those who believe more roads would fix our regional transportation problems. These folks tend to dismiss studies suggesting road building leads to more gridlock; rather, they attack mass transit by citing studies paid for by trade groups (Big Oil, Detroit, etc.) portraying mass transit as ineffective. The other group making a lot of noise is those who feel we’re doing just fine, thank you every much, with our growing light rail infrastructure and think large scale transportation projects (subway anyone?) are silly ideas.
I agree w/ Randy: if Portland and our suburban neighbors don’t come up w/ some kind of “big-picture transit plan”, our way of life will disappear down the toilet. We’re in a good position to think big when it comes to transportation spending now that representatives Peter DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer have built-up some clout in DC and could probably steer federal dollars into the metro area. F*ck, we can’t just keep adding more capacity to the current light rail system – it’s just gonna get slower. We need to find a way to move people around the metro area FASTER. I don’t know what that transportation solution would look like (no, more roads are not the answer), but we need to start planning before those one million new residents get here.
3 comments July 16th, 2007
There was this editorial last week in the Portland Tribune suggesting Portland needs underground light rail in our downtown core. While I agree underground rail would relieve some of the above ground congestion created by adding additional rail service, the notion of building underground transit is simply impractical. Whether it’s the cheaper “cut and cover” or the more expensive tunneling, the cost of building underground light rail would be crippling. Unless there are changes in how the Feds fund transportation project, I doubt we would be able to count on much funding from DC for such a massive project. But lets just say, for the sake of argument, Congress had a big pot of transportation dollars waiting to be tapped for mass transit. In my humble opinion, I think that money would be better spent bringing commuter rail downtown rather than additional light rail. I suppose it could even run underground through the downtown core if money was not a problem. To me, it would make more sense to provide fast service downtown for those living in places like Beaverton and Hillsboro than to add additional light rail capacity. The MAX is great, but it simply doesn’t move people into the city as fast as they would like. And limited commuter rail could actually be affordable to build if we used existing right aways and didn’t put any of it underground. However, underground transit, if we could afford it, would be super cool.
“Let’s dig deeper for a transit fix”
http://www.portlandtribune.com
“One Way to Go: a subway”
http://www.portlandtribune.com
1 comment December 11th, 2006
There were a couple of significant developments at Tri-Met during October worth pointing out. First, the latest expansion of the Portland Streetcar was completed, offering service to South Waterfront. The second big thing was the announcement of a new commuter rail line running between Wilsonville and Beaverton, officially called Washington County Commuter Rail (WCCR). I suppose WCCR isn’t much of a big deal most, since it’s only about 14 miles long and runs between two suburbs, but I suspect it could be the start of something really usefully. Tri-Met likes to build incrementally, so maybe they’ll treat this short line as a start to a network of commuter lines. The fact that Tri-Met has developed a relationship with Portland & Western Railroad to share the right-of-way bodes well for future projects, since there still exists many miles of useful rail lines snaking out to the suburbs. It’s not totally crazy to think this commuter network could even extend to McMinnville at some point, since the tracks are still in place from the old Red Electic.
Oregon’s First Commuter Rail Line
http://www.trimet.org
There are also a couple of MAX project starting up as well. I was watching the Mall MAX simulation below and I’m now convinced it can work.
I205 MAX
http://www.trimet.org
Portland Mall MAX
http://portlandmall.org
For a look a Portland’s old mass transit system, check-out the website below:
Portland Trolley Lines
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dthompso1
1 comment October 30th, 2006
The most recent edition of the Portland Tribune features a front page article on Portland’s best and worst buildings. The piece touches on something that has always bothered me about PDX, which is our tendency to play it safe when it comes to architecture. Portland had its chance at scoring Frank Gehry designed low income housing, but we totally blew it. Now, that’s not saying I’m a huge fan of Gehry’s work, but it would have been cool to have one of his buildings here since they are such icons. Portland can feel so second tier when places like Seattle managed to get Rem Koolhaas to do their central library. And while it’s not directly related to architecture, don’t get me started on the whole Maya Lin disaster in the Pearl. Yes, we do have that Michael Graves designed building from the ‘80s, but have you been inside? What a dump. You know, it’s really frustrating to see such uninteresting buildings going up along the South Waterfront when we have great firms like Skylab and Allied Works doing their best stuff in cities that appreciate their fresh approach. Anyway, below is the Portland Tribune’s lists.
The lookers and the losers (Portland Tribune)
http://www.portlandtribune.com
Portland’s most beautiful buildings
1) Robert and Ann Sacks home, 2281 N.W. Glisan St.
Ned’s comments: Yeah, it’s a nice place, but I like the model home Skylab did in the West Hills better
2) Portland Art Museum, Hoffman Wing
Ned’s comments: Totally dig this Pietro Belluschi masterpiece.
3) U.S. Bancorp Tower
Ned’s comments: This building would look better in Miami. Circa 1985.
4) Belmont Lofts, 3442 S.E. Belmont St.
Ned’s comments: Great pick. Randy Rappaport is a total PIMP.
5) Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse
Ned’s comments: I don’t like the scale of this building. But it’s pretty cool I guess.
Portland’s ugliest buildings
1) Wells Fargo Center
Ned’s comments: I disagree. This is a cool building — even though it dominants the cityscape
2) Portland Building
Ned’s comments: Michael Graves is a hack.
3) 1000 Broadway
Ned’s comments: Affectionately known as the Ban Roll-On building. Stinky architecture.
4) Portland Marriott-Downtown Waterfront
Ned’s comments: Damn, this building hit every branch when it fell from the ugly tree. Even the architect said it blows.
5) Rose Garden Arena
Ned’s comments: Yes, this building does suck, but it’s not truly hideous. It sucks in a very underachiever kind of way…kind of like the Trail Blazers.
My best list (including PAM and The Belmont Lofts)
1) The Equitable Building (The Commonwealth Building)
Architect: Pietro Belluschi, 1948
A fine example of modernism, this building still looks fresh even today.
2) The Dekum Building
Architect: Henry Hobson Richardson, 1892
A great example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture. This building use to be home to Weiden & Kennedy.
3) Wieden & Kennedy Building
Architect: Allied Works Architecture, 2000
A killer renovation by Brad Cloepfil has saved this great building.
4) US Custom House
Architect: James Knox Taylor/Edgar M. Lazarus, 1901
I always admired this building during daily commutes to work down Broadway in the past.
5) US National Bank Building
Architect: A.E. Doyle, 1916
Modeled after the classic Roman temple, this place is amazing both inside and out. Those carved bronze doors in front are the Shiite Moslem.
My worst list (in addition to those mentioned by the Tribune)
1) Slammer Tavern
Hey, this is a great bar, but horrible building. And why is it still standing? Seems like a strong wind would knock it down.
2) Lloyd Center Mall
God, what a depressing building. A potential stand-in for that mall in “Dawn of the Dead”.
3) Bank of America Financial Center
Hey morons, your neon lights on the roof looks like ass!
4) ODS Tower
WTF is that “sculpture” in front about?
5) The Pearl
Snore.
2 comments October 25th, 2006
At last night’s Roseway Neighborhood Association (RNA) board meeting, our land use chair summarized a meeting attended, along with folks from the Madison Neighborhood Association, with the developers trying to bring a big box retailer to our neighborhood. The exact location is 82nd and Siskiyou (across from Madison HS), so it wouldn’t technically be in our neighborhood, but it would impact us in terms of traffic. The developers have been very cagey regarding their client, but everyone assumes it will be Wal-Mart since they have done work for them in the past. In fact, when our board president asked the developers point blank if they would sign an agreement stating they would not bring in a Wal-Mart to the site, they balked and started rambling on about the “free market.” We also had a chance to look at the developer’s proposed site plan and it’s crazy huge. The big box would be around 200,000 square feet, or about 4 Portland-sized city blocks. There would be 900 parking spaces and something like 80% of the site would be surface lot. One of the biggest problems with the proposed location its proximity to a sleepy little neighborhood with three residential streets running into Siskiyou. It’s not inconceivable to imagine shoppers using these side streets to avoid traffic on 82nd. Not surprisingly, the RNA land use committee made the recommendation that we oppose the developer’s application. The consensus was that we did not want to ask for a revision, since the developer’s might turn that against us and claim the RNA was working with them on the site proposal.
While it was heartening to see a great turn-out of concerned neighbors, the whole proposal still has me frustrated. Clearly, this is a Wal-Mart targeted at the growing number of Vancouver residents crossing the Columbia River to do daily shopping in NE Portland. But why can’t these morons site this project somewhere else…like Cascade Station, which was designed for auto friendly big box retailers, has convenient freeway access, no adjoining residential areas, and is in a PDC designated economic development zone? Ultimately, I think we, as a neighborhood, will have to find alternate options for developing this site or we’re just going to have to revisit this fight over and over. There are other neighborhoods that have fought Wal-Mart and its ilk, so there are probably strategies to be learned. Below is a satellite photo of the location for those interested.
If anyone would like to voice their concerns with the city, the application is case number is 2006-154964-000-00 LU. The contact person is Mercedes Nibler at 503-823-7702.
2 comments September 13th, 2006
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